6 April, 2006

When I started this blog, I definitely envisioned being able to post a little more often, here it is the beginning of April and I am writing my first entry without an idea of when IÂ’ll actually be able to publish it. I was on a computer with Internet last week for the first time since I arrived in country. Not real conducive to my writing. Maybe this will be the only way to do it is to just have it all pre-written out with a short window to actually publish it. But I digress.
In those last days of February I was in Washington DC at a pre-staging still figuring out the idea that I was going to Ukraine, the idea which is still just sinking in. On the first of March our group of about 68 flew out and landed in Kyiv, Ukraine March 2. For me, there was little sleep on the plane from DC to Frankfurt, and once we were on a flight to Kyiv itself, I only had to look around to know I was going someplace different. It was easy to tell other passengers were not American, except for our training group, although I couldn't really put a name to them.
Once we got on the ground and through customs, which was actually relatively painless, we were escorted by Peace Corps staff to what we fondly called the "wooded area" otherwise known and Prolisok. A former Soviet Sanitarium. Before you laugh too hard, that means resort over here, not a home for crazy people, although with the jet lag, we looked rather haggard.
After three days of a variety of trainings and an introduction to the Ukrainian Language, we were sent out to our training communities where we were to live with Ukrainian families, many who spoke no English. Might I mention that I was still figuring out the new alphabet, and could maybe say "good afternoon," "thank you," "I want...", "I love...," "My name is," along with a few nouns soup and bananna, they're cognates (look up the word if you don't know what it means). Although I didn't always know what the Ukrainian word for what I wanted was.
So I arrived in Rockitne (not sure the best way to spell it in English, many words here I only know in Ukrainian) and it was dark and I climbed in a car with a man and woman and we all raced off down the road. My first thought they look nice, my second was "this car has no seatbelts" One of my early cultural adjustments, I almost don"t even bother to look anymore, because whenever I do, I never find one anyway.
(side note) By the way, I love the host family I"m staying with, they"re some of the sweetest people I have ever met. In addition to the mother and father, they have two sons and a grandmother who live with them. So in some ways it feels a little like home.
We ate dinner and I understood not a word of what was being said. Much to my surprise, my host mother is an English teacher here in town so early on I was able to communicate a little bit with her and the sons in a cross between English and Ukrainian. Sasha, the father studied German, so I am just beginning to understand him now along with the grandmother.
The first three weeks to a month were some of the most intense training I have ever been through. I went from not even knowing the Cyrillic alphabet to being able to communicate on a basic level in Ukrainian, although it wasn"t easy. Classes would go all day and often I did little more than study, attend class and sleep. It has slowed down a bit now.
We also were able to take our first trip to Kyiv last weekend. A whirlwind trip in which we saw the Peace Corps Office Ukraine, and some of the main sights. The office is kind of an odd thing because once you walk inside everything is in English which is odd after seeing only Russian and Ukrainian everywhere else, although plenty of advertisements often include English. Another funny incident was on the way to Kyiv in a Marshukah, basically a mini-bus, on the radio it would be a song I wouldn't undestand then an English language song would play next, kind of an odd experience.
As for the overall experience, in many ways it could almost be home, except people dress a little differently and when they open their mouths it is definitely not English coming out of it. But at the same time I can come home and play Counter-Strike and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas with my host brothers on the family computer. Some days the idea that I'm in Ukraine is at the far back of my head. Other days it can be at the forefront when I want to order something as tea. (true story) I had to go and get tea and cookies, so I walked into my friendly local magazine (store) and knew the word for tea "chai," unfortunately you can probably guess there was more than one box of tea on the shelf so I was reduced to confused pointing to a shelf and saying "L-I-P-T-O-N" there was a Lipton yellow label tea. Unfortunately I didn't know the color yellow at the time and finally got the point across, thankfully the store clerk was patient with me, I don't know how she has put up with me for so long. Although I am much better now.
A funny story, which partially got me thinking about this was the electricity has gone out twice now tonight, both times due to fuses being blown. The reaction when the electricity goes out suddenly here, exactly the same as in the states. "Ahh, what happened?" some frustration and fumbling around in the dark until the power is back on.
The other part of what has allowed me to get some of the all put down on the, well, computer was IÂ’ve been out of action the past two days. On Tuesday I came down pretty sick with a temperature of 102, I still went to school that day, probably not the best idea IÂ’ll admit but the on the advice of the Peace Corps doctors stayed home Wednesday and Thursday. After peaking at about 103 Wednesday, the temperature is pretty normal today(Thursday). If anything of everybody here, I was probably least worried about the whole affair. Yeah, I got sick big deal, everybody else saw it as more of a crisis than I did. But I listened and now IÂ’m on the up swing, and planning to head back to school tomorrow and teach my second class. More on that another time. Well, I think IÂ’m going to go get my shower, consisting of two buckets full of hot water, but with me being sick and all. It will be my first since what I can recollect was last Friday. Huah!